New Zealand - North Island - Rotorua to Tongariro National Park - Day 5
December 21, 2005

Setting off at a comparatively late 9am, we decided to check out a few of the attractions around Rotorua that we had missed the day before due to my flu, which while still present was slightly more bearable than the day before. Passing the green and blue lakes (which weren't anywhere near as impressive as we were led to believe due to the overcast and rainy weather) we made our way to the Buried Village of Te Wairoa.


Buried Village
One of the many waterfalls.

The Buried Village is the buried remains of a town destroyed by the eruption of Mt Tarawera in 1846. With a timetable to stick to we rushed through the museum showing artifacts excavated after the eruption and information on the eruption and the Maori prophecy which foretold the disaster before making our way to the buried buildings themselves. We wandered through the partially buried and some partially excavated buildings before coming to a stream which passed through the village, we could have grabbed the big rainbow trout swimming in it with our bare hands from the shore, but we didn't. We took the lookout path past a series of waterfalls to a spot overlooking Lake Tarawera before making our way back to the main building and back on the road again.


Wai-O-Tapo Mud Pools
One of my flu symptoms.

We drove back towards the Lady Knox Geyser and Wai-O-Tapu to see the Mud pools which are apparently one of the largest mud pools in the world. After grabbing a few happy snaps of erupting mud globs it was back into the car and south towards our next destination - Tongariro National Park. We stopped a couple of times on the way, first at Huka Falls to see the vibrant blue colour of the waters and then briefly at The Craters of the Moon thermal area. With the rain getting heavier we decided that we'd already seen similar things at Rotorua and figured it would be better to stay dry, so we moved on.


Huka Falls
It's really blue 'n stuff.

As we drove along the road to National Park we could barely make out the base of the volcanic mountains of Tongariro, Ngaruhoe and Ruapehu as they rose up through the thick cloud above us. Disappointed that we couldn't see the supposedly stunning views of the mountains, we dropped the luggage at our accommodation and drove up to Whakapapa Village on the slopes of Mt Ruapehu. After stopping briefly at the visitors center we drove up to the ski field at the very top, being summer there was no snow (even though it was bloody freezing), but the barren rocky landscape surrounded by thick fog was quite eerie, and you could see why they filmed some of the scenes for Mordor in the Lord of the Rings movies there.


The Slopes of Mt Doom.
It's really rocky 'n stuff.

On the way down the mountain we decided to attempt one of the shorter walks (1 hour return) up the slopes as the weather seemed to be clearing up a little. We must have made it about half way before the rain and cold set in again and we had to admit defeat and turn around. Cold, wet, sick and miserable we went back to our accommodation and made use of the hot spa. We spent the rest of the night relaxing in the lounge of our accommodation before having an early night, hoping the weather would be clear in the morning so we could catch a glimpse of the volcanoes.

Posted by WetWired
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